On Tuesday, Dec.12, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University will recognize its highest achieving students from the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities at the 2017 convocation ceremony.

Each department and school within the college has selected a phenomenal student who has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to academic excellence during their time at ASU. These students will be awarded a prestigious Dean’s Medal to be worn with their graduation regalia as they lead their fellow graduates during the processional in honor of their scholastic achievements. Download Full Image

The Dean’s Medalists have stood out in their fields through a number of practices, from advanced coursework and honors theses to innovative research and consistently high grades. Each of these students have earned their medal and will make incredible contributions to society and the world after graduation.

Meet this year’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Medalists:

Rosalyn Bacal

Accomplishments: Bacal is a driven student who has made her education a main priority. While at ASU, she has been on the Dean’s List and is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success, the National Society of College Scholars and is a Presidential Scholarship Recipient. She is also the event committee vice chair of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

“Rosalyn has demonstrated a keen sense of understanding complex concepts and the ability to articulate her thoughts in cogent ways. She is a student who puts her community first, ensuring the health and welfare of her classmates,” said Olga Davis, professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication.

Rocco Belsito

Accomplishments: Belsito is a non-traditional student who came to ASU to complete his degree. Since arriving, he’s been on the Dean’s List each semester and has received the John W. Hudson Scholarship. He was able to complete his degree while working full-time.

Future Plans: Belsito plans to continue his education into graduate school and desires to pursue a PhD in sociology with a research focus on media consumption.

“Rocco is an excellent representative of the diverse population of students we have in our school and of the value of persistence when facing challenges, making him a stellar nominee for our outstanding graduate,” said Stacie Foster, undergraduate director of programs in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics.

Peter Burgoyne

Accomplishments: Burgoyne is an admirable academic. He has been on the Dean’s List each semester and was a leadership council member for the Latter-Day Saint Student Association. In addition, he is fully committed to community engagement. While living in Minnesota, he reached out to the local Hmong community and learned their language.

Future Plans: Burgoyne is a current applicant for a Fulbright Scholarship to further his interest in renewable energy and sustainability at the Arava Institute in southern Israel.

“Peter is an excellent student. He has a good physics background, which I believe is an essential prerequisite for understanding energy flows in society at large, and is very committed to mastering the material. He not only excels in the classroom, he applies what he has learned to his work in the community,” said Peter Rez, professor in the Department of Physics.

Jonathan Dolinschi

Accomplishments: Dolinschi has been a remarkable student and researcher. Besides maintaining high grades, he has been an ASU/NASA Space Grant Fellow and a research aide in the School of Earth and Space Exploration. He has also worked as a teaching assistant for mineralogy and has been a judge at the Arizona Science and Engineering Fair.

Future Plans: Dolinschi has been admitted as a graduate student in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and will begin his master’s degree in mineral physics in the spring of 2018.

“Jonathan has always been a top student. I have worked with seven undergraduate students when I was a faculty member at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I can rank him better than most of them and perhaps one of the top two undergraduate students I ever have worked with,” said Sang-Heon Shim, associate professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

Hamza El Anfassi

Accomplishments: El Anfassi has been a notable student who has passion for his studies. He is an advocate for social and human rights. He has been a committee member for the Global Change Maker and is the community colleges director for the Arizona Students Association and the United States Students Association.

Volunteer Work: El Anfassi has volunteered at the Center for Advocacy Against Abused Woman, the British council and the citizenship forum in Casablanca, Morocco.

Future Plans: El Anfassi will be working in Washington D.C. as a production coordinator for Alhurra, a 24/7 Arabic-language television network that is part of the broadcasting apparatus of the U.S. government. He is also thinking about furthering his studies either in Middle Eastern studies or political science.

“Hamza is one of those students our faculty will never forget. He embodies many of the best characteristics we hope for in our students: a lively intellect, hard work, enthusiasm and concern for the political struggles of our day,” said Richard Herrera, associate director of the School of Politics and Global Studies.

Antonette Gallo

Accomplishments: Gallo has tackled many research areas during her time at ASU, including language contact, second language acquisition theories, teaching ESL to students with disabilities and interdisciplinary approaches to higher education. She has been an apprentice teacher in Phoenix, a teaching assistant in the writing program and a writing tutor at ASU.

Thesis: “Disaster Linguistics: An Exploration of the Potency of Cataclysmic Events on Languages”

Future Plans: Gallo is interested in living and teaching abroad while using her skills in language, teaching and learning to advance social justice issues locally, nationally and internationally.

Robert Hadsell III

Accomplishments: Hadsell has been a determined student who seeks out challenging course work. He has concentrated on geographic information science in his upper-division coursework and has conducted a site-suitability analysis for a solar farm placement.

Future Plans: Hadsell will work as a geographic information science analyst with the Arizona Department of Water Resources where he has an opportunity to make a great impact in protecting Arizona’s water supplies for the next century.

“Faculty in our school speak highly of Robert’s passion for geography in general. Like many of our students, Robert has a great love of the outdoors. This drove him to take classes in physical geography and to develop his love of water and water quality research,” said Trisalyn Nelson, director and foundation professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.

Brett Hansen

Accomplishments: Hansen has been selected as a Dean’s Medalist for two units in the college. He was awarded a President’s Scholarship to attend Barrett, the Honors College and has been a research assistant for Ross Maciejewski’s VADER Lab and co-authored two papers. He was also a research assistant for Fernando Leiva-Bertran in economics, aiding research into patent networks.

Thesis: “The Demographics of Polling Places”

Future Plans: Hansen has accepted a position as a software engineer with Amazon in Seattle.

“His outstanding performance is all the more noteworthy since he has not shied away from taking some of the university’s most challenging courses,” said Jose Mendez, professor in the Department of Economics.

“Brett took more of the most challenging senior level ‘depth courses’ than are required for the BS in mathematics and excelled in all. Faculty unanimously commented on Brett’s academic work in the most positive terms,” said Matthias Kawski, president’s professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.

Daniel Mangu

Accomplishments: Mangu was admitted to ASU with a four-year Arizona Board of Regents Scholarship, and has since been working hard on his studies. During his college career, he had to deal with two major medical setbacks. These hurdles didn’t stop him as he has completed both of his degrees and has published an essay in Frontiers in Education.

Future Plans: Mangu will pursue a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at ASU and is expected to receive that degree in December 2018.

“Daniel is a renaissance man in the making, showing a desire for breadth of learning that is not typical for college students. This combination of knowledge of both the liberal arts and the hard sciences is precisely what we hope to see among our future leaders. Without a doubt, he is one of the strongest and most influential Russian students in the program,” said Donald Livingston, senior lecturer in the School of International Letters and Cultures.

Ariana Ruof

Accomplishments: Ruof has earned many awards, including the New American University President’s Scholarship and the Zita M. Johnson Child Study Scholarship. She also helped create the Psychology Engagement Team and Mental Health Awareness Week at ASU, an activity for which she received a Cooley Leadership and Service grant.

Thesis: “Predictors of Effortful Control in Early Adolescence”

Future Plans: Ruof plans to pursue doctoral studies at ASU's School of Social and Family Dynamics.

“Ariana demonstrates natural leadership skills and a sense of service. She can organize a small army of people to mobilize toward a common goal in a short period of time. Ariana Ruof is truly an exemplary student overall and truly worthy of the Dean's Medal,” said the nomination committee from the Department of Psychology.

Tiffany Spicer

Accomplishments: Spicer is a high-achieving student who has completed her degree from across the country. She has performed with excellence in all of her studies, and has given immense energy to considering the connection between cultures and religion throughout history.

Volunteer Work: Spicer volunteers at the Animal Advocates of South Central Pennsylvania, a non-profit organization promoting a compassionate and conscious lifestyle, giving a voice to the billions of animals who have been silenced.

Future Plans: Spicer plans on staying at her job in a bank while completing a two-year program studying Shamanism.

“Tiffany has an overwhelmingly positive record. Her consistently high grades are supported by instructors’ comments noting that she was always exceedingly well prepared, able to capture analytical, comparative and applied perspectives, and ready to articulate her knowledge in clear writing and expression,” said Alexander Henn, professor and director of undergraduate studies in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies.

Collin Teague

Accomplishments: Teague has been a highly active student. He has maintained high grades while working as a researcher in various research studies and laboratories. In addition, he was named one of the 2017 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Student Leaders. Teague coauthored a paper published in Global Change Biology and has two more publications in review.

Future Plans: Teague currently works in Dr. Sirianni’s Laboratory for Nanomedicine at the Barrow Neurological Institute and plans to study neurobiology in graduate school.

“As one of the School of Life Sciences’ most successful undergraduate researchers, Collin became a role model for younger undergraduates. His exceptional accomplishments inside and outside of the classroom are a pleasure to honor,” said the nomination committee from the School of Life Sciences.

Jonathan Vie

Accomplishments: Vie is a transfer student who has excelled in his studies at ASU. He joined the Marine Corps to help pay for college and has since discovered his passion for teaching. He has been a tutor for high school students while pursuing his degree and is dedicated to helping young students grow in the STEM fields within the Phoenix area.

Future Plans: He has completed his student teaching in the Phoenix Unified High School District and plans to continue teaching there after graduation.

“Recognizing the shortage of enthusiastic, qualified teachers in STEM fields in Arizona and role models for young Latino men in the Phoenix area, the School of Molecular Sciences is particularly proud to be able to train Mr. Vie to take on these roles and responsibilities. We have no doubt he will continue to serve the Valley community well,” said the nomination committee from the School of Molecular Sciences.

Andrea Williams

Accomplishments: Williams is a non-traditional student who has completed many impressive opportunities. Williams has made the Dean’s List every semester and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society. She participated in many anthropology-related experiences, including working in the ASU archaeology chemistry lab and Arizona SciTech.

Volunteer Work: Williams has been a volunteer at the Arizona Museum of Natural History as well as the Western Archeological and Conservation Center, a preservation and study of museum collections within the Intermountain Region of the National Park Service.

“Andrea Williams has been an exemplary student in both anthropology and biology. Her undergraduate achievements illustrate her scholarship, dedication and drive to excellence. Her studies, interests and activities are transdisciplinary and integrate several fields of inquiry,” said Arleyn Simon, associate research professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

Tyler Woods

Accomplishments: Woods has been a passionate and incredibly involved student at ASU. He has been on the Dean’s List every semester and was one of the CLAS Student Leaders. He has worked as a tutor and legal assistant and is on the Standards Board of the Phi Kappa Phi fraternity.

Thesis: “A Virtue Ethics Account for Maximizing Enjoyment in Life”

Volunteer Work: Woods has volunteered at East Valley Hospice of Arizona and Best Buddies in Tempe. He also served as a volunteer coordinator for Devils in Disguise.

Future Plans: Woods scored well on his LSAT and is hoping to attend the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law to continue to pursue his goal of becoming an attorney.

“Tyler has been very passionate about his educational and future goals since he started at ASU back in the fall of 2014 as a Barrett Honors student,” said the nomination committee from the School of Social Transformation.

Rachel Bunning

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How often do you think about water? You may be told to conserve water or drink more of it, but do you know where it all comes from?Water/Ways is part of the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program — a national/state/local partnership to bring Smithsonian exhibitions and programs to cultural organizations in rural communities of 50,000 residents or less. The exhibit will be transported to 12 rur...

ASU students, faculty to #thinkwater in rural Arizona

University partnering to expand research, resources of Smithsonian initiative

How often do you think about water? You may be told to conserve water or drink more of it, but do you know where it all comes from?

Water/Ways is part of the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program — a national/state/local partnership to bring Smithsonian exhibitions and programs to cultural organizations in rural communities of 50,000 residents or less. The exhibit will be transported to 12 rural communities around Arizona starting in 2018.

Water/Ways is part of the Smithsonian’s Think Water Initiative to raise awareness of water as a critical resource for life through exhibitions, educational resources and public programs. It will explore the endless motion of the water cycle, water’s effect on landscape, settlement and migration, and its impact on culture and spirituality. It looks at political and economic efforts to ensure access to water, and explores how human creativity and resourcefulness provide new ways to protect water resources and renew the public’s relationship with the natural environment.

Arizona Humanities, the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives and Arizona State University's School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (SHPRS) will work together to expand the research and resources of the exhibit.

The state scholar for the project is Paul Hirt, professor of history in SHPRS and senior sustainability scholar for the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. He has written extensively on the relationship between natural resources and civilizations and was drawn to the project by a desire to educate Arizona citizens.

“This is another opportunity to educate the public about the challenges we face, of the importance of water and to try and help make us more intelligent managers of the resources in our world that support our lives,” Hirt said. “Our imbalance between supply and demand is very serious and very problematic and we have to get a handle on it. Just explaining to people that there is an imbalance between the supply and demand is an important first step in solving it.”

Hirt taught a public history class this fall, where his students got first-hand experience in helping build the exhibit. They developed professional skills by working with the communities that will be hosting Water/Ways.

Students visit one of the host sites in preparation of the exhibit.

“What ASU is doing is working with 12 communities and finding out what their local water story is and helping them develop ideas for interpretation and helping develop ideas for public programming,” Hirt said. “It’s been a really exciting and rewarding experience to everyone involved.”

Daniel Milowski, a doctoral student studying history in Hirt’s class, is involved in helping the rural host sites with foundational research that will allow them to excel in planning and hosting Water/Ways.

“The work that I am doing is a lot of research and documentation on the various host sites that we’re working with, so building up a large library of information and resources that can be used to create local exhibits that can be paired with the national travelling exhibit,” Milowski said. “We are researching cultural resources like musicians, music recordings, books that have been written creating a sense of cultural resources and others like that.”

The main exhibit from the Smithsonian will tell the water story at the national level while the sites that host the exhibits will work with state partners to develop a water story at a local level. This allows each site to create a unique exhibit that will not be seen anywhere else.

“It’s a very timely exhibit for Arizona in particular because water, access to water and water resources is essentially what makes Arizona work,” Milowski. said “It’s something that all Arizonans will benefit from knowing more about.”

The exhibit will serve as a place to convene community conversations about water’s impact on American culture. Each host site will develop complementary exhibits, host public programs and facilitate educational initiatives to raise people’s understanding about what water means culturally, socially and spiritually in their own community.

“Each site's exhibit will be different but with the same focus on state and local water stories,” said Abbie Harlow, a master’s degree student studying history who was in Hirt’s class. “Water is immensely important to regions across Arizona and a focus on water use and conservation can benefit everyone.”

The students and faculty from ASU are just a handful of people working to bring the exhibit to Arizona.

“There are many scholars and local experts on water who will lend their expertise through research, teaching and speaking,” said Brenda Thomson, the executive director of Arizona Humanities. “Each community brings unique partners to host programs and events with local schools, businesses and museums. So this is a major undertaking.”

All involved hope Water/Ways will bring a new understanding of water to the communities as they each focus on their own stories and concerns. With so much happening in the world today and in our world of constant information, the exhibit brings up fundamental questions that may be overlooked.

The team collaborates on the best points for the exhibit.

“Will we thrive or perish, and what will the earth look like if we don't understand and preserve the planet's water?” Thomson asked. “The exhibition helps us explore the inseparable story of water and humanity and the impact of the choices we make today on the planet and the species which inhabit the earth.”

There is a reason water is central to life on earth. For thousands of years it has been the cause of war, prosperity and stories which contribute to our society today. However, many people no longer see how water affects their lives and the world around them. Water/Ways is working to bring water back into the conversation of culture.

“It is viewed as destructive, creative, mythological, essential and much more,” Thomson said. “Man tries to control water through dams, canals, irrigation and yet water claims and reclaims land through rain, snowfall, floods and forests turn to fields, farms, mines and wetlands in the path to sustainability, an urgent priority. The subject of water is complex and intriguing and relevant to all of us. The Water/Ways exhibition should not be missed.”

The public can participate in the conversation on social media with hashtags #thinkWater and #waterwaysAZ. Water/Ways will be touring throughout the state for two years starting in June 2018. Below are the host sites and the days the exhibit will be on display.